The Library of Michigan just completed a two-year Every Child Ready to Read (ECRR) program for 2016 and 2017. This program is based on the American Library Association Every Child Ready to Read materials. Teaching parents and other caregivers how to support the early literacy development of their children is the basis of the program. The public library is central in providing information and materials to parents and caregivers on early literacy. Talking, Singing, Reading, Writing and Playing are the elements of ECRR activities. You can find more information about the program at www.everychildreadytoread.org/.

The program included a free copy of the Every Child Ready to Read training materials for Michigan public libraries and two-years of training and continuing education program. Contact Cathy Lancaster at LancasterC5@michigan.gov for further details.

The Summer Reading program at public libraries encourages children, youth and families to read and helps children maintain reading skills. To support Summer Reading, the Library of Michigan is a member of the Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP), a multi-state collaborative. The CSLP membership develops a unified and high-quality promotional and programming product. Membership allows the Library of Michigan to provide CSLP programming manuals, artwork, incentives and publicity to Michigan public libraries.

Early literacy materials for librarians, teachers, parents and caregivers.

There is a wide range of early literacy information available, including activity-based websites for kids, short video demonstrations for adults, lists of books to read aloud by topic and age group, developmental milestones and much more. Please see the pages below for much more information to help you create successful, engaged readers!

Michigan eLibrary (MeL) Kids The MeL Kids page has links to a great variety of quality subscription early literacy resources available to you at no charge. Try them out! Specific MeL resources are listed below and are freely available in Michigan. Click on the titles below to use each resource. If you are unable to access any of these resources, let us know at contact@mel.org.

BookFlix™ An interactive experience that allows beginning readers to explore fiction and non-fiction designed to increase understanding and fluency. Increase comprehension and have fun at the same time!

Resources at the four learning and skill levels including primary sources in subjects such as people, countries, science, animals, current events, and biographies.

Early World of Learning Follow Trek and Taffy the cat around the world learning about colors, numbers and other fun things. Strengthen reading foundations with stories, activities and videos. Includes materials for educators.

eBook K-8 Collection Fiction and nonfiction books you can read online - for school and for fun. Search for what you want. Picture books, homework topics, languages learning. Online help available too.